OPINIONS ON BREED AND GENDER OF OUR LADIES

[SavorChick]

Hi,

These ladies are our first. We believe these are a 6-month old Heritage RIR pullet (Raspberry) and a 4-month old BO pullet (Daisy). Your opinions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

1. Breed?
2. Gender?
3. Quality/critique?

A neighbor has offered to give us a 1-month old RIR Cockerel.


Daisy


Raspberry & Daisy


Daisy


Daisy


Daisy


Raspberry


Raspberry






Raspberry's Wing

 

[lindalouly]

Raspberry looks like a RIR cockerel to me. I dont know much about quality cause I dont have birds to show. If you are planning on keeping the cockerel, he is going to need more girls around him. Good luck with your flock. Hopefully someone can tell you about quality.

 

[SavorChick]

Raspberry looks like a RIR cockerel to me. I dont know much about quality cause I dont have birds to show. If you are planning on keeping the cockerel, he is going to need more girls around him. Good luck with your flock. Hopefully someone can tell you about quality.

Thanks, Linda. We were afraid Raspberry was a He. We were told she has laid eggs and we shouldn't expect our first egg for a week (today) due to the shock of the move. No eggs thus far.

 

[lindalouly]

The birds are 6 months old... sorry I didnt read that at first... I keep looking at the pictures to try and make sure... I dont see sickle feathers on the tail... so it could be a pullet. Sorry, I might be messing you up on this but at 6 months, you woud think he would be more defined. Are the feathers around Raspberrys neck pointed or rounded... if they are pointed I would say cockerel. If they are rounded then it is a pullet.... Sorry, Started second guessing my self when I read the age.

 

[Bridebeliever]

At that age I would say that they are both pullets. It also looks like the RIR may be coming out of a molt which could be delaying the eggs as well?

 

[mbphotos09]

x2 They both look like pullets to me. Raspberry seems to have some pin feathers coming in maybe from feather picking or a molt?

 

[SavorChick]

Bride is right: Raspberry is molting. Appears as though it began on or about last Saturday when we picked her up. (My nieces chose her so she is likely a keeper either way.) We've read that it can take weeks or months to recover from the molt and begin laying again.


Linda, We think she resembles (neck features and all) the pullet in this photo: www.heritagepullets.com/store/product-category/rhode-island-reds/. (S)he doesn't act like a roo. We were in the local feed store yesterday considering a 1-month old Buff Orpington. It appeared to be a pullet; however the employee said it was a roo and explained that we could tell by the beginnings of spurs on its legs. Was thinking of returning for photos to post.

 

[rebrascora]

I would say Raspberry is about 18 months old, judging by her face and state of moulting. They are both female. I have no experience of showing to give you advice on quality.

I don't think that spur buds are any indication of sex at one month old. Both male and female can have them. I don't think Buff Orps are the easiest to sex at that age, so you probably have a 50/50 chance of it being a roo if they were straight run chicks. If it has a noticeably pink comb that would be more of a tell tale sign. Introducing a single younger bird to an existing flock of 2 will not be a straightforward process though, as the older birds will almost certainly pick on it.

 

[SavorChick]

I would say Raspberry is about 18 months old, judging by her face and state of moulting. They are both female. I have no experience of showing to give you advice on quality.

I don't think that spur buds are any indication of sex at one month old. Both male and female can have them. I don't think Buff Orps are the easiest to sex at that age, so you probably have a 50/50 chance of it being a roo if they were straight run chicks. If it has a noticeably pink comb that would be more of a tell tale sign. Introducing a single younger bird to an existing flock of 2 will not be a straightforward process though, as the older birds will almost certainly pick on it.

Thanks. We don't intend to show; however, we'd like to try our hands at rearing some chicks.

We were pretty sure Daisy was a pullet and she has the same buds. If we had picked up the Buff Orp, we would have placed her in a cage within the coop. Guess we will have to reconsider. However, our RIR roo is about 1-month old. We haven't picked him up yet. We were hoping he could fend for himself. Thoughts?

 

[rebrascora]

The young roo will probably get a hard time from the older girls too. From your photos, it looks like they free range or have a large area though, so he may be ok. I would still use an introduction cage and it's best to quarantine first.

Raising chicks is great, especially with a broody hen and your buff orp, Daisy may go broody.... probably more likely than Raspberry, but obviously most people use incubators. It's important to figure out what you will do with your unwanted male chicks in advance though. It's hard processing them for meat when you have raised them yourself and the market is flooded with unwanted cockerels already. It's also hard watching them pester the life out of your hens and pullets when they reach sexual maturity.... so you need to give it some thought in advance.

Good luck with them

Regards

Barbara